


Joyride

by Peach_Bitters (peachybitters)



Series: Anakin and Obi-Wan [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Anakin Skywalker is a Brat, Attempt at Humor, Cuddling & Snuggling, Discipline, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jedi, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Light Angst, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Spanking, sarcastic Obi-Wan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25207207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachybitters/pseuds/Peach_Bitters
Summary: Anakin takes a Temple speeder out for a spin one night and this doesn't go over well with Obi-Wan.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Anakin and Obi-Wan [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864819
Comments: 15
Kudos: 87





	1. Joyride

**Author's Note:**

> CW for non-sexual corporal punishment of a minor (chapter 2). Please note that this story does not reflect my views on how to discipline children in real life. It is purely fiction.

Anakin crept into the main garage of the Jedi Temple, wary, making sure to stay in the shadows. The temple speeders weren’t used too often, especially at this time of night, and he’d taken one out a couple times before, but he wasn’t taking any chances and getting too cocky now. Jedi Knights had a bad habit of appearing at the most inconvenient times.

His cautiousness served him well. Almost immediately after he entered the garage, an air speeder approached the entrance and came to land. Anakin exhaled slowly, willing his presence to be shielded through the Force. It wasn’t easy to hide from a Jedi, but he was strong with the Force. He had a chance, at least.

He watched Kit Fisto and his padawan, Nahdar, get out of the speeder. Anakin hoped they would exit through the far side of the garage, but they stood there, chatting quietly.

_Oh, just please leave_ , he thought, annoyed.

“Master Kit!”

The situation had worsened. Head of Temple security, Cin Drallig, approached the two Jedi. Kit smiled and raised his hand in greeting. Now there were three Jedi having a little reunion and not leaving the garage. Anakin pressed himself against the wall, hoping that no one would have the idea to turn on the light directly above him. He had no choice but to be patient.

Finally, Drallig left, mercifully using the far entrance. Anakin may have been skilled, but not skilled enough to hide from Cin Drallig. The man practically made a sport of catching errant padawans like him after curfew.

“It is late, Padawan, let’s retire. Good job tonight,” Fisto said

“Thanks, Master.”

The pair began making their way out, close to Anakin who was still huddled in the shadows.

_Invisible,_ he thought. _I’m invisible._

“Hello, Anakin.” Kit’s voice was cheerful as he moved past. “Your shielding needs some work.” 

Anakin said nothing, embarrassed now but not willing to admit defeat. The door opened and closed, and then he was alone.

_Good old Master Fisto_ , he thought, hopping into the closest speeder. He had faith the good-natured master wouldn’t snitch on him.

The speeders were all the same for the most part, white with a dull rust colored trim, and kind of old but not in the classic sense. Reliable but not particularly fast. Anakin often helped the Temple mechanics work on them, and Master Knut, a trusting man to a fault, had shown him how to override the security controls (much to Anakin’s concealed delight). Since then, he’d taken a speeder out a couple times at night, not going anywhere in particular, just enjoying the freedom of flying through the Coruscant skylanes, alone and without a care.

He knew Obi-Wan wouldn’t approve. At only thirteen he wasn’t yet old enough to fly by himself, according to Coruscant law. Obi-Wan loved rules like that. But Anakin didn’t think he was hurting anyone; he knew what he was doing. He was a Jedi, and even young Jedi were allowed to fly in emergencies. The fact that this wasn’t an emergency didn’t trouble him much.

A sense of peace washed over him as he left the Temple behind and drifted into the skylanes, accelerating as much as he dared. Sometimes he still dreamed of podracing, even though those days were long gone. Jedi never did things like that. He comforted himself with the thoughts of flying a starfighter again, but who knows when that would be.

As much as Anakin would have loved to stay out later, he knew the longer he was out the more someone - namely Obi-Wan- might notice. He’d kept his trips short to be safe. He turned the speeder back toward the Temple, which seemed to loom disapprovingly over him in the distance. Noticing the fuel was low, he turned into a fueling station on a nearby platform, parking it next to a few other speeders. A trio of droids hurried out to attend to it, honking eagerly. Anakin was heading into the attached bodega to pay when his commlink buzzed. He sighed. His luck had finally run out. There could only be one person on the other end of the link.

“Master?”

“Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice was flat. “Where are you? You are not in the Temple.”

“How’d you know?” Anakin asked, fumbling in his belt pouch for credits.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I happen to be a Jedi Knight.”

Anakin winced. He considered himself a brave person, but a sarcastic, sleep-deprived Obi-Wan was not someone he wanted to face down.

“I’m at a fueling station. I’m nearby though, don’t worry.”

“Fueling station?”

“Yes, I... took a speeder out. Just for a little while. I’m on my way back.” Anakin handed the credits to the Rodian shopkeeper.

There was a silence on the other end. “Hello?” Anakin asked tentatively.

Then Obi-Wan spoke. “All right. I’ve got your coordinates. I’m leaving to come get you.”

“No, Master, don’t trouble yourself,” said Anakin, beginning to panic. “I can fly the speeder back to the Temple -”

“Out of the question,” Obi-Wan said sharply. “Stay right there, and do not move. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master,” Anakin said, knowing that saying anything else now would spell certain death for him. 

“Don’t move,” Obi-Wan repeated before closing the connection.

Anakin caught the eye of the shopkeeper staring at him, then quickly looked away. The guy had probably heard everything. He wandered around the shop, eventually picking up the latest edition of _Core World Racing Weekly_ to distract himself. But his mind kept returning to his predicament. Why did Obi-Wan have to treat him like such a baby? He was almost fourteen and he’d still barely gone on any offworld missions with his master, and the ones they had gone on had been dull- things like escort missions for fussy, coddled dignitaries. He felt like he’d spent most of his life as a Jedi just waiting around for the real action to start. Some days it felt like it never would.

“Hey, kid, you gonna hang out here all night not buying anything?” Snapped the shopkeeper after a few minutes.

To pacify him, Anakin bought the weekly and a large cup of a syrupy drink called Hasca, a popular drink among Coruscanti youth but one Obi-Wan disapproved of. He sipped on it with wicked glee. If he was going to get in trouble anyway, a little soda wouldn’t matter much.

Even though he’d made the purchases, he could tell the Rodian was getting annoyed, so he decided to leave. Obi-Wan would be here soon anyway.

Sure enough, as he walked out of the store, an air taxi landed on the platform and Obi-Wan emerged, looking predictably displeased. Anakin felt his stomach do a somersault. Not just because of his master, but an even bigger problem…

“Well? Where’s the speeder?” Obi-Wan asked by way of greeting. “Let’s get out of here.”

“About that,” Anakin stammered, looking furtively around. “I think there’s a situation…”

Obi-Wan studied him, his expression unreadable.

“The speeder’s gone,” Anakin said. “Master, I - “

Obi-Wan held one finger up to silence him, directing his gaze into the distance. Anakin waited patiently, knowing it was better to let his master attempt to calm himself.

“How did you let this happen?” Obi-Wan said after a moment. “You didn’t secure it?”

“I just ran in to pay when you com’d me,” Anakin said. “I was gonna run back out and take it straight back to the Temple. I guess when you told me to stay here I forgot about it.”

“Oh, Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighed. He sounded calmer now, but a quietly disappointed Obi-Wan was almost worse than an angry Obi-Wan, in some ways.

“Sorry,” Anakin said softly. 

“Well, you lost it. How are you going to find it?”

“Don’t worry, I have the tracker,” said Anakin, relieved he’d at least done something right. He reached into one of his belt pouches and pulled out the speeder’s tracking fob. If he’d forgotten it, they’d have had to go back to the Temple to get the speeder’s location.

“We’ll have to borrow a vehicle,” Obi-Wan said, looking around.

Anakin grinned and sucked on the straw of his drink.

Obi-Wan glared at him. “You are not allowed to have fun with this. I am not happy with you, Padawan.”

Anakin humbly lowered his gaze and nodded, but he was secretly planning on having some fun, regardless of what Obi-Wan decreed.

Obi-Wan managed to talk a nearby man into lending him their speeder, giving him five hundred credits and a promise that they’d have it returned by morning. It was a nice one too, much to Anakin’s delight. A much newer and faster model than the ones at the Temple, bright blue and sleek. He approached the driver’s side joyfully.

“Oh no, you are _not_ flying this,” Obi-Wan said sternly, gesturing toward the passenger side.

Anakin couldn’t help himself. “Please?”

“Would you like to sit in the back seat?”

Anakin slid sulkily into the passenger side and popped his tracker into the speeder’s navigation port. The coordinates appeared before them, indicating a neighborhood a few miles south and several levels down.

“See? It’s not far,” he pointed out.

Obi-Wan grunted and pulled the speeder out into traffic. Anakin braced himself for a lecture, but his master was silent. He seemed almost troubled. It made Anakin a little uneasy. He sucked at his drink quietly, almost hoping Obi-Wan would demand what it was and make him put it down.

After a few minutes they arrived at their destination, a quiet dimly lit street full of closed shops and little traffic. Many of the storefronts looked like they hadn’t been open in some time, and there were few lit windows to be seen in the area. Anakin was intrigued, looking around eagerly as Obi-Wan parked the borrowed vehicle.

“I don’t see it anywhere on the street,” he said.”It must be around though.” He grabbed the tracker and studied it closely, then pointed to a closed garage door. “I think in there.”

Obi-Wan said nothing, but looked up and down the street, scanning for trouble. Anakin walked to the brightly lit panel next to the door, inspecting it. “Okay, easy. It's a number lock.” He began pressing keys.

“May I ask what you’re doing?” Obi-Wan asked him after a few moments.

Anakin tried another combination. “I just thought..maybe I could guess..I mean, feel the right sequence.”

Obi-Wan looked at him.

“Sometimes it works,” Anakin offered sheepishly.

Obi-Wan sighed. “Before you go charging into this situation, take a moment or two. And if you paid a little more attention, you’d see that the door is not completely closed.”

“Oh.” Obi-Wan was right. The door was closed most of the way but not locked in. Anakin took a deep breath and reached out, sensing for enemies or danger that might be waiting. Things felt calm. He stretched out his hands, willing the door to slide open. There was only darkness on the other side, and the smell of oil.

“Be careful,” Obi-Wan cautioned as Anakin stood surveying the dark room. “What do you sense?”

“Seems clear,” Anakin said, pulling out his hand lamp. “It’s over there,” he whispered, pointing to the far side against the wall.

The air in the room seemed to change a bit then. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt like he was being watched, not by a camera or a droid, but a living thing. He began to creep slowly through the garage. Obi-Wan stood back, guarding the entrance.

There was a low growl and something lunged out of the shadows. Anakin jumped back quickly, recognizing the form of a Sibian hound. It opened its mouth wide, showing long sharp teeth and a lolling tongue and gave a deep bark. Anakin reached his hand out, attempting to touch the creature’s mind with his, to calm it., to assure it that he was its friend. He found the creature’s presence in the Force, a mixture of primitive aggression, a need to defend its territory, but also a desire for kinship. He sent out waves of what he hoped it would register as calming energy and feelings of friendliness. The hound tilted its head to the side, bewildered. 

“Good boy,” said Anakin, pleased with himself. He could feel Obi-Wan’s eyes on him. It wasn’t so long ago that Anakin had struggled with animal calming techniques. He remembered how frustrated he’d gotten, going through the same exercises over and over while Obi-Wan stood by lecturing him about patience and empathy. He was glad his master could see this now.

The sound sat back on its haunches, panting. Anakin knelt down and stroked its neck. “You aren’t so mean, huh?” The hideous thing rolled over onto its bag happily, begging now for tummy rubs.

“Anakin, be mindful,” Obi-Wan said, an edge to his voice. Anakin looked up. There were heavy footsteps approaching from the far side of the garage, then the entire room was bathed in light.

“Who’s there?”

A hulking Besalisk was standing at the end of the garage, blaster held in one of his four hands. He looked at Anakin with a confused scowl, no doubt pondering why his vicious attack animal was placidly rolling around on the floor.

Anakin gave Obi-Wan a quick glance over his shoulder, then turned to face the Besalisk. He wanted to try something..he wasn’t sure if he could do it, but there was no time for a discussion with his master.

“I’m a Jedi and I’m here to take back stolen Temple property. You will let me take this speeder.”

“I will…” started the Besalisk, but trailed off.

“You will let me take this speeder back and let me leave in peace,” Anakin tried again.

‘I will let you leave,” said the other, eyes glazed.

“Go now,” Obi-Wan said. Anakin leapt into the speeder and started the engine. Obi-Wan ran to his own borrowed speeder and soon the two were on their way back to the bright, colorful lights of the upper levels.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Anakin said, once they’d dropped off the borrowed speeder and Obi-Wan joined him in his.

“Let me fly, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. Reluctant, Anakin scooted over.

“I did the mind trick,” he reminded his master as they merged into the skylane.

“I saw,” said Obi-Wan.

“That was the first time I did it,” Anakin said. “It felt natural.”

“You also stole and lost Temple property and put us into a needlessly dangerous situation, so I wouldn’t start boasting now if I were you,” Obi-Wan said sharply.

Anakin glared but held his tongue. It sounded like his lecture was finally here, now that everything was over.

“Do you want to tell me how many times you’ve done this?” Obi-Wan asked. “I have a feeling this isn’t the first.”

“Three. I mean, tonight is the third time.”

Obi-Wan sighed. “You know what the Council would think about this, don’t you? You say you want to go on more missions, but this is exactly the wrong way to make that happen.”

“I know,” Anakin said glumly. “But I didn’t mean to do anything awful. You won’t tell the Council, will you?”

“No,” Obi-Wan said. “As usual, I’d prefer to deal with you myself.”

They were silent the rest of the way back to the Temple. Anakin was finally starting to feel tired, and just wanted to collapse into bed. He would only have a few hours of sleep before the sun came up and it was time to start the day. As they approached their respective chambers, Obi-Wan turned to him.

“I want you in my quarters first thing in the morning,” he said. “I mean first thing, Padawan.”

“Yes, Master,” Anakin said quietly. He was starting to feel a bit bad now. Obi-Wan seemed really worked up over this. When it came down to it, Anakin didn’t really like upsetting his master. They needed to be a team, and Anakin understood that. He just wished Obi-Wan could see his point of view more often.

Obi-Wan turned and entered his own room without another glance back.

_Goodnight, Master_ , Anakin thought.


	2. An Emotional Morning

“I want you in my quarters first thing in the morning,” Obi-Wan said. “I mean first thing, Padawan.”

“Yes, Master,” Anakin sighed. Perhaps the gravity of the situation was finally dawning on him.

Obi-Wan turned and walked to his own door, a few steps away. He was exhausted and had the beginnings of a headache. But as he lay down in his bed, he found himself unable to sleep. He knew some of this was his fault; he hadn’t been watching over Anakin closely enough lately, he’d let himself get pulled in too many directions. Life in the Temple had a way of doing that. People were always asking him to sit on various committees, to teach classes and give lectures. As a result, Anakin had been left too much on his own. Training him should have been Obi-Wan’s chief preoccupation.

And it would be, he promised himself, and was finally able to fall asleep.

Though sleep had been fleeting, Obi-Wan awoke at dawn as he usually did. When he went into the sitting area, he found Anakin laying on his floor under the window, curled up under Obi-Wan’s robe. He studied the boy for a moment. Asleep he looked so innocent, and untroubled. He almost hated to wake him. Something in the Force told him they were in for a rocky morning.

“Padawan,” he said, gently but firmly.

Anakin opened his eyes, blinking away the sleep. “Hi, Master.”

“Why are you sleeping on my floor?”

Anakin sat up, shaking off Obi-Wan’s robe. He had made himself comfortable, and was wearing only his pale under tunic and sleeping pants. His regular clothes and lightsaber lay in a pile next to him.

“Well, you said be here first thing,” Anakin explained, rubbing his eyes. “So I figured I’d just sleep here so I wasn’t late. I didn’t want to get in any more trouble.”

“Good thinking,” Obi-Wan said.

He decided to get straight to the point. “Anakin, give me your lightsaber please.” He held out his hand. 

Anakin hesitated, looking up at his master from where he still sat. “Why?”

“Because I am your master and I asked you to,” Obi-Wan said. He had expected such a response from his apprentice.

Reluctantly, Anakin picked up his weapon and handed it over. Obi-Wan clipped it to his own belt, next to his. “I am not going to lecture you again on what you did wrong, Anakin, as I think you know. You broke both the rules of the Temple and the law of our city, which I’m sure is clear to you. It seems to be that you do not appreciate your status or your training, so I am suspending your lessons for the day. You will stay here and you may meditate and think about your actions. Later you will tell me what you did wrong and I will decide if you are ready to continue. However, don’t plan on getting your lightsaber back for at least a week.”

Anakin quickly rose to his feet, his eyes pleading. “Master, you can’t. It’s mine. I made it.”

"It belongs to the Order,” Obi-Wan said sternly. “It is yours when you are worthy of it.”

“It’s not fair! I was just having some fun,” Anakin protested. “You’re acting like I burned down the Temple.”

There was no use in arguing with Anakin when he got like this, Obi-Wan knew. The boy needed a few hours to cool off and contemplate the situation. He might come to his senses on his own, and Obi-Wan wasn’t going to waste his breath if Anakin wasn’t ready to face hard truths.

“I suggest you start your meditation now,” he said.

A powerful wave of anger from Anakin seemed to hit him head on. The boy waved his hand through the air and a pile of neatly stacked data pads on Obi-Wan’s table scattered across the room. Master and apprentice regarded each other. Anakin’s eyes flashed with a wild fury, his chest heaving. Obi-Wan looked down at data pads and then back at his apprentice. A part of him wanted to grab the boy and smack him for his gross misuse of the Force and for his childish attitude, but doing so would gain nothing. He knew Anakin wanted to make him angry, to bring Obi-Wan down to his level, to make himself feel better about his own lack of control. To lash out now would be to lose.

“Have you been doing the meditations I assigned you, Anakin?” Obi-Wan asked after a moment.

Anakin lowered his gaze to the floor, silent and defiant.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Obi-Wan said. “They were not optional, Padawan. I thought I made that clear.”

Before Anakin could respond, Obi-Wan stepped forward and took the boy’s arm. It was time for a new strategy. He walked the boy over to the armless seat in the middle of the room and sat down, pulling Anakin face down over his lap.

Surely Anakin could have sensed this coming, but the confusion and frustration emanating from him was palpable. The Force swirling around him was dark, like the primal anger of a cornered animal. “What are you doing?”

Obi-Wan rested his hands on Anakin’s back, not wanting to start any chastisement until the boy calmed down a bit. “What do you think? Tell me how you think you got yourself here.”

“You-” huffed Anakin. “You just like punishing me.”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. By now he’d had enough experience with Anakin’s meltdowns to know how to weather them. “Believe me, there are many things I’d rather be doing now than dealing with your nonsense. Now, calm down.”

Anakin went silent, having realized that lashing out would get him nowhere, though his breath was ragged and shallow.

“The assignments I give you are not optional, Padawan. You do not pick and choose your training. If you’d been doing your meditations, perhaps you’d be able to talk to me reasonably instead of flinging my things about the room.”

He sent a wave of what he hoped was calming energy to the boy through their training bond. Anakin took a deep breath then let it out slowly. He was trying. Obi-Wan rubbed his back in slow circles. “Good. Calm yourself.”

After a few more breaths, Anakin spoke meekly. “Sorry, Master. I lost control. I’ll do my meditations, I promise.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but you really do have this coming,” Obi-Wan sighed. He gave the boy a hard smack over the seat of his thin sleeping pants. Anakin flinched but stayed silent, seemingly having accepted his fate.

It had been a while since they’d had to do this. Obi-Wan desperately wanted Anakin to learn to discipline himself, to correct his own behavior without someone having to step in and whack him when he got out of line. Still, whether or not he liked it, he couldn’t help but admit that sometimes a firm hand seemed to be what Anakin needed to nudge him back onto the right path. It had been the same with him, as a boy.

“Tell me. Are you a Jedi or are you an ill-behaved child?” Obi-Wan asked the back of Anakin’s head. This was not his preferred way to hold a conversation, but at least the boy was listening to him now.

“I’m a Jedi,,” Anakin said quietly.

“Will you accept my training and that I know what’s best for you?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Yes, Master,” Anakin said, sounding naively hopeful that this was the end. “Please let me up. I’ll be better.” He put his hands on Obi-Wan’s leg as if to push himself up again, but his master held him down firmly and gave him a second swat.

“No. Your choices warrant some consequences. A promise isn’t enough.”

“Yes, Master,” said Anakin miserably. A part of Obi-Wan wanted to end this and gather Anakin up in his arms, but every Jedi knew one had to finish what one started.

He started swatting in a steady rhythm now, without pause.

“Does a Jedi throw childish tantrums?”

“No,” Anakin yelped.

“And does a Jedi use the Force to throw things around when he’s angry?”

“No, Master…” Anakin whispered, a tremor in his voice. “Please, I’m sorry.”

“I know, but I need you to understand. You should be grateful that you’re not up in the spire explaining yourself to the Council after last night.”

Anakin shifted in discomfort and made a whimper of protest in response to this.

“I know it doesn’t feel like it, but I’m being very lenient with you. Do you understand?”

“I guess so…”

Obi-Wan smacked the tops of his thighs, hard. “You guess so?”

“Okay! Yes, I understand,” Anakin panted. “Ow, Master.”

“You will not disobey my directions again. I gave you that assignment to help you regulate yourself.”

“Yes, Master!”

Obi-Wan’s hand was stinging now, from his fingers to his palm, but it seemed appropriate that he would suffer along with his padawan. It felt like something of a failure on his part that it had come to this in the first place. If only he’d kept a closer eye on Anakin..

Obi-Wan stayed his hand when Anakin started quietly sobbing and he looked down at his young apprentice, concerned. Tears were to be expected sometimes, but surely he hadn’t been that severe in this instance. Anakin had endured worse without much complaint. He rubbed the boy’s back.

“Try and calm down, now.”

Anakin calmed himself after a moment or two. He sniffled and wiped his arm across his face. “Can I get up?”

Obi-Wan moved his hands aside and Anakin pushed himself up, still rubbing his eyes with his sleeves as he did so, as if to remove all evidence of his crying.

“Go and pick up my datapads, please,” Obi-Wan directed. Anakin obeyed at once, stacking them neatly once again on the table.

Obi-Wan beckoned the boy over. “Come here.”

Anakin shuffled over, subdued but pouting, and sat beside his master. Obi-Wan put his arms around the boy and drew him close. Anakin fell against his chest, not quite relaxed, but calmer at least. 

“Are you all right?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Anakin said softly.

“What an emotional morning so far,” Obi-Wan remarked. “I haven’t even had my tea yet.”

“I wish I could be like you,” Anakin said after a moment.

“What am I like?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Not so angry.”

“I do get angry, sometimes.”

“No...I’ve felt you angry. It’s not like me. Like...I don’t know...something like a star exploding. I can’t help it.”

“It can be hard when you’re young. Your training will help. Have patience.”

Anakin contemplated this for a moment and looked up at his master. “I’m not a bad Jedi?”

“No. You are a very silly Jedi sometimes, though.” He thought for a moment, debating whether he wanted to say what was on his mind. “However, I am pleased that you remembered your training last night. For the most part.”

Anakin beamed at him. Obi-Wan knew the boy was happy to get any compliments from his master, as they were rare. Anakin knew how skilled he was, and didn’t need his ego inflated further, in Obi-Wan’s opinion.

“But you still have a great deal to learn,” he said more sternly. “Now, go get cleaned up and dressed and get started on your meditations.” 

With a final sniff, Anakin hopped up. He gathered up his clothes from the floor, then turned to look despondently at his master. “Are you really going to hold my lightsaber for a week?”

Obi-Wan thought for a moment. “If you do as you are told, you may get it back sooner. But don’t hold your breath.”

“Yeah!” Anakin cheered, grateful for any hope of a reprieve. He turned around to leave, but then faced his master again and knelt down on the floor beside him in an uncharacteristic display of humility. “I’m sorry I acted like such a brat. Please forgive me.”

“It’s in the past. Now, get moving along. I’ll get you something to eat.”

Anakin nodded and rose to his feet, heading to the ‘fresher with his bundle of clothes in his arms.

Obi-Wan watched him go and sat thinking for a moment. He appreciated Anakin’s apology about his behavior, but somehow he wasn’t sure he’d be able to convince him why his rule breaking was wrong. He had a feeling the boy would have to come to a lot of realizations on his own, and that might take years.

What they needed to do, he thought, was get away from the Temple for some time. Anakin was clearly restless and a change of scenery and some new purpose might do him good. He would have to think about that.

For now, like always, they would have to take things one step at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


End file.
